[Click e-Stock] "Krafton Dispels Concerns Over PUBG Peak-Out"

KB Securities analyzed on the 13th that Krafton is dispelling concerns about the peak-out of PUBG. The investment opinion of Buy and the target price of 450,000 KRW were maintained.

Krafton recorded consolidated sales of 617.6 billion KRW and operating profit of 215.5 billion KRW in the fourth quarter of last year. This represents increases of 15.5% and 31.1% respectively compared to the same period last year. KB Securities researcher Lee Seonhwa evaluated, "The operating profit of 215.5 billion KRW was 18.1% below the consensus of 263 billion KRW."

However, it is expected that performance will recover from the first quarter of this year. He said, "Although sales of Peacekeeper Elite were sluggish in the fourth quarter of last year, combined sales for January and February increased by 34.1% year-on-year due to the Lunar New Year event and the release of the Rondo map in 2025."

He emphasized, "Most of the investments related to new titles are expected to be personnel expenses," adding, "There is a plan to hire 500 people this year, but about 50 people were hired in the first quarter. As the number of hires and investment in new IPs are expected to gradually increase, strong performance exceeding market expectations is anticipated in the first quarter."

Along with this, concerns about PUBG are also expected to be dispelled. He said, "After the Rondo map update in the fourth quarter of 2023, PUBG users’ retention strengthened, resulting in PC sales last year increasing by 61.3% year-on-year," adding, "Although there are concerns about PUBG’s growth in 2025 due to this high base, these concerns are being dispelled as Steam concurrent users reached about 830,000 on the 23rd of last month."

He forecasted, "There are abundant momentum factors such as the transition to Unreal Engine 5, the launch of Ally, a CPC implemented with artificial intelligence (AI), and the introduction of a UGC mode," and added, "As content that PUBG users can enjoy becomes richer, playtime retention metrics are also expected to continuously rise."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.